Effective shopping carts - How to avoid 'abandoned shopping carts' in an online
store?
When we think of online stores, we immediately think of shopping carts, product
catalogs and payment processes online. Some of us think, - "Oh, the bother of adding
products to a shopping cart that finally doesn't work", or "The check-out counter
that springs nasty pricing surprises", and more.
In this article, we'll discuss shopping carts, the issues surrounding them, their
usability and navigation. You might ask, why? Well, a shopping cart is not a mere
repository for items that your customers may want to eventually buy. Several significant
issues come into play here. The cart should ensure that it doesn't place private
information at risk; and it should take care not to interfere with the navigation
or usability of a web site. Statistics prove that about two-thirds of web shoppers
abandon shopping carts online. Is it because an online store can never replicate
the experience that a brick and mortar store affords? Or is it because online stores
don't plan their strategies smartly? What does it take to improve the online shopping
experience?
Let's take a look at what an effective shopping cart is and thus help get rid of
the present day e-commerce woes to a certain degree.
A shopping cart is a part of the e-commerce solution
Any web site that sells items online uses a shopping cart. What is a shopping cart?
A shopping cart is a software program that tracks what each user has placed in the
shopping cart, how much of each item, any preferences for that item (color, size)
and what stage of the ordering process the customer is in. If the shopping cart
is part of the entire e-commerce solution, then it also takes the user to the checkout
counter where the user selects the payment mode, shipping option and so on.
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Definition of a good shopping cart
Some of the basic components of an online shopping cart are:
Web host
Where you can host your web site. You could use your own server or another company’s
servers to provide web space. Instead of this, you also have the option of using
a storefront from a web site that gives you this option.
Merchant account
This is absolutely essential when you want to accept credit card payments online.
Owning a merchant account makes you affiliate to a bank that will process the credit
card payments that you accept from your customers.
Secure server
A web site that processes online payments requires encryption of some kind. Customers
look for security on the site and want to know for sure that the information they
give is safe.
Procedures for fulfilling purchases (order fulfillment
procedure)
What happens once an order is made on the site? You will need to process the order,
take it from the database and put it together. You will then follow the policies
you have for orders to ensure that all the orders on the site are honored to the
right degree.
Database
A database is where you will hold order information. Customers require information
about the products, shipping time, shipping and handling charges, and taxes to make
a purchase, and also information like the status of the order, what time it will
reach the customer and so on. Sometimes, a customer might want to know if a product
is available and in stock before ordering the product. Real-time data about the
inventory status is something that an online store has to provide too.
Product Catalog
Reduce shopper’s incentives to abandon shopping carts by telling them everything
that they need to know about the products in an attractive product catalog. Customers
should be able to browse or search the catalog according to user-defined parameters.
Also, these pages should load quickly, be easy-to-read and posses a navigable interface
to the database that actually holds the product information. Once shoppers add items
to the shopping cart, find out their zip codes and include tax on the order, so
that they can see what their order totals truly are as they are shopping.
Interface and navigation plans
Shopping carts should be attractive and provide all the information upfront without
distracting the user and at the same time, not overloading them with too much of
information. Navigation is equally important here. Customers would like to add to
their shopping carts and then return quickly to the last page they were on before
moving ahead.
How do you create/get a shopping cart?
You could build your own or purchase an entire e-commerce package that includes
shopping cart, product catalog, storefront, database and so on and thus avoid the
hassle of programming, testing and debugging. When you purchase a turnkey solution
of this kind, handling any technical difficulties is a lot easier as the company
that builds the solution for you will fix these problems. You can also build a standalone-shopping
cart that can be integrated with the rest of the system. Even your merchant account
provider may include a shopping cart with the merchant account provided.
Security breaches that can occur with a shopping
cart
Your customers are giving you personal information in a shopping cart and this can
make it vulnerable to a security breach. Shopping carts can be compromised in a
number of ways, visitors can tamper with forms used to send items to the shopping
cart, and the database can change values according to the parameters submitted from
the web site.
A few steps that can be taken to avoid security breaches are to make sure that you
double check everything that your users tell you especially if there is a potential
for the user to change information on a web site.
Features of a shopping cart that can make a big
difference to your online store :
- Secure ordering support and real-time processing of orders
- Enables easy adding, deleting and modifying of shopping cart contents
- Easy back navigation
- International currency payment support
- Automatic calculation of tax, shipping costs and total costs based on information
from buyer's address
- Select different methods of shipping costs
- Incomplete orders removed automatically
- Save customer information once entered
- Final cart page lists all items, prices, user-specified parameters, shipping and
handling charges, tax and estimated date of delivery
It would also help if your web site offered the
following features to a user :
- Recommendations on product pages about related items, accessories to the product
listed there
- Dates of shipping and delivery and order status
- Online Receipts
- Order confirmation either through email or via the web
- Selection of multiple destinations for products
- Shipping tracking number with links to the shipping site
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Alternatives to shopping carts
Why wouldn't you want a shopping cart on a site? When you sell only one product
or you sell services indirectly from your site - auctions, e-mail orders and printable
forms. Let's take a look at each one of them here.
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Auctions
Auctions provide an easy way to sell your products without ever using a shopping
cart off your site or even tied to your site. Auction sites can be used to sell
more than one product at a time. These sites would also help boost traffic towards
your products.
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Purchase forms
Your website will have a form that your customers can fill out and submit to
you. This form will capture all the details of the order. Users will send payments
through postal service or phone or fax. This may not be a feasible and convenient
option because users will have to print out the form and mail it to you. But, if
you are planning to use such a form, it would help if the form were short, readable
and easy to fill.
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Phone or fax orders
This is an excellent option for those who are concerned about online security issues.
But, at the same time the convenience of using a credit card option and the professional
image that it conveys is lost in such a case.
Shopping carts are a vital part of any website that sells products and it is important
to select the right tool or the right developer to create them on your site. Sanework
provides e-commerce solutions for every kind of customer. Our solutions range from
building turnkey solutions that include shopping carts, online payment gateways,
order tracking features and online inventory management.
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